On Boxing Day in 2022, I spent all night out on the Norfolk coast under a beautifully transparent and dark sky.  It was windy and cold, but the fresh air and the amazing nocturnal sounds of the wildlife kept me enthused through the evening (along with a flask of tea and some of the Christmas choccies!). My first visit was to Snettisham, on Norfolk's west coast, overlooking the Wash towards Lincolnshire.  Snettisham is famous for its mudflats, which provide a rich feeding ground for its many visiting birds and provides a home to a popular RSPB reserve.  My foreground subject was a dilapidated jetty, built in the Second World War to allow gravel extracted from the nearby pits to be moved by boat, destined to help build the concrete runways needed to support the American bombers being stationed in the UK.  

A 15 minute walk along the beach to the jetty allowed me to become dark adapted and take in the atmosphere.  The cacophony of around a hundred pink-footed geese flying a few feet above my head to a roosting site on the flats made the journey more exciting (I could hear the beat of their wings!).  The high tide, a couple of hours earlier, had been particularly high, and it had washed the mudflats clean. Getting out onto the mud to get the composition I wanted was, to say the least, a little tricky. The surface was very slippery, but then my foot would break through and disappear up to six inches into the mud. Narrow but deep drainage channels made things even more interesting, adding an extra level of jeopardy!